SV Darmstadt 98 forward Sandro Wagner missed a penalty with the last kick of the game as visiting FSV Mainz 05 won their Bundesliga derby 3-2 on Friday.
Mainz midfielder Stefan Bell opened the scoring with a header from a free-kick in the 15th minute.
Eight minutes later, Yunus Malli made it 2-0 with his sixth goal of the season.
Photo: AFP
Marcel Heller pulled one back with an outstanding strike in the 27th.
The Darmstadt forward had his back to goal, turned one way then another to evade two defenders before hitting a dipping shot into the top-right corner.
Marco Sailer equalized in the 57th, only for Pablo de Blasis to claim the winner seven minutes later on the rebound after Japan striker Yoshinori Muto’s initial effort was saved.
Photo: AFP
Wagner had the chance to claim a draw for Darmstadt when Luca Caldirola went down under Gonzalo Jara’s challenge in the fourth minute of stoppage-time, but the forward blazed the ball well over from the spot.
“We would have gladly taken the point if it had gone in, but if we are being honest it was not really deserved,” Darmstadt coach Dirk Schuster said.
Video replays showed there had been little contact for the foul and Mainz were on top for most of the game.
It was only the second defeat for Darmstadt on their return to the Bundesliga after 33 years.
“We will get up again, that is our mentality,” said Sailer, who vowed not to shave off his beard until the side have secured Bundesliga survival at least.
Mainz climbed provisionally fifth ahead of the rest of the eighth round.
LIGUE 1
AFP, PARIS
Lille OSC got a much-needed boost on Friday, with Sofiane Boufal and Djibril Sidibe lifting them to a 2-0 win over fellow Ligue 1 strugglers Montpellier Herault.
Moroccan midfielder Boufal, 22, got Lille off the mark two minutes before the break when he converted a penalty, with defender Sidibe sealing the much-needed victory after 64 minutes.
Ryad Boudebouz missed a chance to reduce the deficit when the Algeria midfielder fluffed a penalty awarded on 72 minutes for a foul by substitute Quentin Cornette on Montpellier’s Sebastien Corchia.
The win, just their second of the season, provisionally lifted Lille five spots to 11th in the table with 10 points from nine games.
Montpellier failed to build on last weekend’s first win of the season at Lorient and remain in the relegation zone with four points.
The pressure is increasingly on coach Rolland Courbis, touted to be the first Ligue 1 coach to be sacked this season.
LA LIGA
AFP, MADRID
RC Celta de Vigo missed the chance to go top of La Liga, for a day at least, as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Getafe on Friday.
Ten days after thrashing champions Barcelona 4-1 and drawing level on points with Real Madrid at the top, Celta failed to capitalize on their unbeaten start to the season — four wins and three draws — in a drab affair.
A week after drawing 1-1 at Sociedad Deportiva Eibar, Celta again failed to beat relative minnows, moving up to second in the table ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games, below surprise early pacesetters Villarreal.
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